Advice NI

Name Of Organisation:	Advice NI
Name Of Project:	Developing Skills Through Partnership
Project Number:	9124
Location:	Belfast & L/Derry
Beneficiary Target Group:	Community & Voluntary Sector Workers
Total Budget Allocation:	£87,500

The project marks a unique partnership approach by AIAC and Law Centre NI.

The project will build on the proven capacity of both organisations in the training field, by delivering a seamless learning package of knowledge and skills based vocational training to NVQ level 4 that promotes a culture of lifelong learning and creates new opportunities.

This package will be targeted towards:

(i) People and organisations working within disadvantaged areas affected by conflict,

(ii) People and organisations working with specific social groups - victims, ex-prisoners, and people with disabilities and carers.

The target groups/individuals are from areas of Northern Ireland and the border counties that have suffered most from the conflict, through inter-community violence, exclusion, polarisation, etc. Unlike other projects, the focus with this project is not specifically on the disadvantaged individuals themselves, but on the advice workers in the various community and drop-in centres, within these areas.

To address the problems these centres are presented with, the project has put quite a number through accredited courses on Welfare Rights and Equal Opportunities, highlighting the facts that these are common problems across the communities and not just confined to one.

An important part of the project to address cross community issues, together with highlighting the fact that "advice" is something offered to all communities, to address common problems.

The project is also making use of the Nerve Centre's CD ROM's (addressing Cultural Diversity and Conflict Resolution) both in group and on an individual basis.